Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry says he was lectured over his "treasonous" remark about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. But Perry says others are concerned about the Fed, and that the agency should become more transparent. Photo: Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is firing back Wednesday at critics who have blasted him for questioning the integrity of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He said others are also concerned about the Fed.

The Texas governor who officially announced his bid for the Republican party's presidential nomination last week characterized during a campaign stop in Iowa this week the strategy of Bernanke as "treasonous."

Perry had suggested that if Bernanke were to initiate another round of quantatitive easing -- buying U.S. Treasury bonds to push more money into the struggling economy -- he would be committing a treasonous act.

"If (Bernanke) prints more money between now and the election, I dunno what ya'll would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas," Perry said. "Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion."

On Wednesday, Perry tried to explain his views, saying that other political leaders should have similar concerns about the Fed board. But Perry clearly tried to shift the focus away from a personal attack on Bernanke.

"I got in trouble about talking about the Federal Reserve...I got lectured about that yesterday," said Perry, during a breakfast at Saint Anselm College while on a campaign tour in Bedford, N.H.

Perry said the Fed should become more transparent, while not mentioning Bernanke by name.

"There have been a number of politicians who have stood up and really questioned the transparency of the Federal Reserve," he said. "They should open up their books. They should be transparent so that the people of the United States know what they are doing and how they are doing.

"If they would simply open up and be transparent...until they do that, there will continue to be questions about their activity and what their true goal is for the United States."